If you’re a gamer, you’ve probably heard this story by now. League of Legends player, Justin Carter, was arrested for posting a ludicrous joke. A joke. While I completely understand that the joke itself was extremely tasteless, I think it’s even more extreme to put him in jail for it. Justin’s mother says the police found no evidence in his apartment to warrant such an action. That said, I don’t know the police reports. I don’t know if she’s just saying that because she’s his mother. Ever since I heard this story, I have wanted to know exactly what the police have to justify their case.

For now, not knowing what the police have on the kid, I don’t feel sorry for him. But the idea alone that you can be arrested for sarcasm is pretty ridiculous. I’m writing this because even if the kid should be in jail, I feel this is worth being aware of. You would think with how much publicity this has gotten, that the police would be able to show us why he deserves it. How pissed would you be if you found out he had been wrongfully imprisoned? I don’t know the kid, but I would be pretty enraged.

In case you don’t know the story, here’s what happened according to his mother:

What happened is that he was in an argument on the League of Legends website, which continued on a Facebook page, and someone on Facebook called him crazy and messed up in the head.

So he responded in a sarcastic tone by saying something along the lines of ‘Oh yeah, I’m real messed up in the head, I’m going to go shoot up a school full of kids and eat their still, beating hearts’ which was followed by saying JK (just kidding) and LOL (laughing out loud). His response may have been in bad taste, but it was written in a non-threatening way that didn’t translate well online. None of his friends or family would even question his intention as anything other than a poor choice of words. Things got out of control, but my son is not a felon and terrorist as he’s currently being charged!

Justin’s mother has started a petition asking for his release. She has just over 100,000 signatures and needs a bit over 46,000 more. She’s also asked for donations in an attempt to pay the huge bail. Justin spent his 19th birthday in jail. While stuck in jail, he has been assaulted a number of times, and been locked in solitary confinement for weeks. He’s also been put on suicide watch.

UPDATE: Justin Carter’s attorney has confirmed that Carter is out on bail as of Thursday, July 11. An “anonymous good Samaritan” donated $500,000 to the Carter family so they could make bail for Justin, said defense attorney Don Flanary. Via:MSNBC